Titus Kaphar was born in 1976 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He obtained his Bachelor in Fine Arts in 2001 at San Jose State University and in 2006 his Master's at Yale University, School of Art.

Kaphar's artworks interact with the history of art by appropriating its styles and mediums. He cuts, bends, sculpts and mixes the work of Classic and Renaissance painters, creating formal games and new tales between fiction and quotation. He is fascinated by history: art history, American history, world history, individual history – how history is written, recorded, distorted, exploited, reimagined, and understood.